Treatment and conveyance of mineral oils.



No. 685,902.A Patented Nov. 5, |901. A. F. L. BELL. TREATMENT AND CONVEYANCE 0F MINERAL OILS.

Application led May 29. 1901.) No model. 2 sheets-sheet l.

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ATTORNEYS.

Patented Nov. 5, |90I.

A. F. L. BELL. TREATMENT AND CDNVEYANGE 0F MINERAL OILS.

Appumion med May 29. 1901.

M52 Sheets-Sheet 2. E

(No Model.)

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WJTNESSES.-

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STATES PATENT Trice,

ARTHUR FRANCIS LESLIE BELL, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

TREATMENT AND CONVEYANCE OF MINERAL OILS.

ASPEGIIEIC'.II'.O1\`I' forming part 0f Letters Patent N0. 685,902, dated November 5, 1 901.

Application led May 29, 1901. Serial No.' 62,381. (No model.) i

To @ZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ARTHUR FRANCIS LESLIE BELL, a citizen of the United States of America, residingat Los Angeles, county of Los Angeles, and State of California., haveinvented certain new anduseful Improvements in Treatment and Conveyance ofMineral Oils; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to the extraction for utilization as fuel of the carbonaceous solids contained in heavy petroleum-oils, such fuel being employed in the process of separating the distillates Afrom such oils, and also dy' namical means for their conveyance in liquid form i n pipes or by other means requiring motive power. It involves the apparatus or means for accomplishing these ends in a pra-ctical Way, especially in the treatment, distillation, andconveyance of what are called the "heavy petroleum-oils found on the Pacific coast in Kern county, California, and else- Where.

To carry out and apply my invention, there `are required at the Wells -or source of petroleum a furnace and apparatus for distilling i the same and to collect the carbonaceous residu-um therefrom, a conducting pipe-line for conveying the distilled oil to a place of shipment or use, and a steam-engine or other motive power to generate electric current to be conveyed along the pipe-line for operating auxiliary pumping machinery when such is required, the Whole representing What I term the initial plant, situated at or near the point Where the heavy petroleum-oils are procured.

The principal object of my invention is to provide for the economical conveyance of petroleum-oils and their products when the natbile distillates to a convenient point of shipment by land or sea.

In the application of my invention there are employed apparatus and agencies in substance as shown in the drawings.

Figure I is a view in side elevation of a plant such as is required at the wells Fig. II, a view of loading the petroleum or distillates into a vessel at seaboard, and Fig. III a side elevation of intermediate pumping machinery as applied in stations along a pipe-line when resistance in the latter is too great to be overcome by the initial impelling force.

In the conveyance of light or lim pid petroleum-oils in pipes the viscous friction is not enough to prevent successful and economicaltransmission even to long distances; but

`with the heavier class of such oils the viscous friction in pipes is such that this system is impracticable except for short distances; but

and heat for distillation and motive power for their conveyance, as hereinbefore stated `and by means nowr to be described in connection with the drawings, in which the principal notations are as follows:

l is a collecting-tank or receiver for crude oil; 2, -a distillng vesselor retort; 3, a furnace to heat the distilling vessel; 4, a condenser to liquefy the volatile distillates, and a tank or receiver for the limpid oil after treatment.

7 is a forcing-pump that draws the limpid oil from the tank 5 and iinpels it through a pipe-line 8 to an intermediate station or stations or to terminal place of delivery, as illustrated in Fig. II.

9 is a boiler and furnace to supply steam to an engine l0, that drives an electric generator 12, from which current is conveyed on the wires 13 to supply motive power for relay or station pumps along the pipe-line 8 when such are required.

`In Fig. II, 14 is a terminal storage-tank situated at a dock or wharf l5, and 17 a vessel being loaded with oil through a gravity pipe-line 18,or,if desired,an additional pumping-station could be connected to the pipe 18 to facilitate the loading of the vessel. 19 is an auxiliary pumping-station on the pipeline 8 leading to the tank 1-l.

In Fig. III, 2O is a common force-pump driven by an electric motor 22 and the usual gearing. 23 is a suction-pipe, and 24 a discharge-pipe, for the pump 20. Between the pipe-line 8 and the pump 2O are valves 27, 28, and 29, that serve to place the pump in or out of the circuit of flow through the pipeline 8, as may be required and as hereinafter explained.

The process and operation are as follows, employing the crude oils found in Kern county, California, as an example: These oils have a gravity of 13 to 18 Baume, according to the different localities, so it is impossible to pump them for any distance through a pipe-line. The result is that this oil has to be transmitted by railway and the freight charges are naturally much higher than if the oil could be pumped through pipe-lines to tide-water. Most of the California oils, including those of Kern county, consist of two component parts-petrolin and asphaltin. The former represents the oleaginous matter and the latter the hardening substances in the crude oil. When this asphaltin is removed by chemical means, it resembles a brown impalpable powder. When refined accoi-ding to the herein-described process, the y petrolin is wholly removed in the form of distillates and the asphaltins are left in the bottom of the converter in the form of a black i hard residuum, which if the process is carried far enough will when removed from the still be a porous substance resembling coke. This residuum has onlya small percentage of the petrolin left in it and will not adhere to anything, but can be handled similarly to coal. Furthermore, when ignited it burns freely and has very little tendency to melt down and spread over the grates. This coke or residuum makes an ecient fuel and is adapted for` fuelin refining the crude oil in stills; also for generating power and electric current for pumping the distillates through the pipe-line 8 initially and at stations along the pipe-line as its length and grade may render necessary, making up a cycle 0f operations that are interdependent and a novel system of operating.

The operat-ion is as follows: Crude oil from the oil-ields is dischargedinto the receivingtank 1, from where it is delivered through a the residue is a coke requiring heat from 600 to 800 Fahrenheit to liquefy it. When the still 2 has been operated to the point where the attendant thinks the residue is of the proper consistency, no more fuel is placed under the still, and itis allowed to cool until the residuum can be drawn off into suitable receptacles, or if allowed to remain in the still until cool it can be broken up and removed in pieces and stored for use as ar fuel for any purpose. When the vapor has been condensed into oil or distillate, this is conveyed by the pipe 33 to the tank 5, from where it is drawn by a pump 7 and forced into the pipe-line 8 to be delivered usually at the seaboard. The pump forces the distillates into the line at the greatest admissible pressure, which may be as much as nine hundred pounds per square inch. This pressure is enough to force the distillates for a considerable distance at the required velocity. This distance might be from a few miles to thirty miles, owing to the grade. Then it will be necessary to employ a second orintermediate pump, which would take the oil from the pi pe-line and return it at a pressure equal to that of the first pump, so that the oil would be continually impelled at the required velocity from one stage to another, and so on to the end of the line. The power for these intermediate stations is derived from electricity generated at the irst or main station from steam made from the consumption of the by-products of the crude oil, as before described. In this way all of the light oils or distillates are available for delivery in the pipe-line, and the coke or solid material would be used for fuel, or if not required for that purpose can be sold as a commercial prod uct. The electric current being generated at the first or initial station and the conducting-wires near the pipe-line all the pumping-stations are parts of one combined system requiring no boilers, engines, or separate motive power and but little attendance.

I do not confine my invention to the number of elements or parts and arrangement shown in the drawings, as some of these might require to be double or multiple,as the amount of oil treated and the degree of its reduction might require.

I am aware that the distillation of mineral oils is a common process, and that crude oil and distillates from the same are conveyed through long lines of pipe, and that auxiliary 0r intermediate pumpingstations taking their fuel for generating the necessary power from the pipe-lines are employed to impel the fluid in such pipe-lines. I do not claim either the process of distillation or the mode of conveying mineral oils by the means named; but

What I do claim, and want to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a system of apparatus for the separation, utilization and conveyance of the bituminous and kindred products found in certain minnl ICO log

Irc

eral oils, the following elements in combination, viz: first, a receiver for collecting and storing the crude oil; second,a dstilling plant for separating the volatile distillates'from the carbonaceous residuum; third, a reservoir for collecting and storing the distillates; fourth, a pipe-line leading from said reservoir to a distant terminal; fth, a forcing apparatus located in said pipe-line near the reservoir; sixth, a power plant for energizing said forcing apparatus by the combustion of the re siduum; seventh, electric generators driven by said power plant; eighth, electric conductors extending from said generators along the pipe-line; ninth, electric motors located ARTHUR FRANCIS LESLIE BELL.

Witnesses:

H. H. CLARK, R. D. HALOBIRD. 

